Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond  
 http://cebooks.blogspot.com 

Happy to Help New Year

Help survivors and their families by making monetary donations to these organizations:

American Red Cross International Response Fund
AmeriCares South Asia Earthquake Relief Fund
Direct Relief International International Assistance Fund
Médecins Sans Frontières International Tsunami Emergency Appeal
Oxfam Asian Earthquake & Tsunami Fund
Sarvodaya Relief Fund for Tsunami Tragedy
Save the Children Asia Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund
UNICEF South Asia Tsunami Relief Efforts

posted by Jerry permanent link

We wish all our readers a happy and prosperous New Year.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

My Top 2004 eBooks/eContents events:
1. iPod Rules
2. PodCast
3. MobiPocket reaching Mobile Phone Devices
4. iTunes vs. Real Harmony
5. Mobile format sites (check pdaportal.com)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/30/2004

Ask Aunt iPodLounge
Ask iPodlounge 12-30-04

Q: iTunes is set as the default music player on my PC, but when I click on a track and ask iTunes to play it, it will play through RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. Can you tell me how to get my music, and especially my CDs, to play through iTunes?
Q: I have a couple hundred albums in my Musicmatch Library. I just got a new iPod and when I try to drag files from my "My Music" folder to my ITunes library, I receive an error message saying, “The songs being added are in the protected WMA format and can not be converted to AAC format (required by Apple). ITunes can only convert unprotected WMA songs.” How can I get my Musicmatch library into my iPod?
Q: Is it possible to set up the iPod to change the EQ setting automatically according to the genre of music? For instance, if a song with the "rock" genre is playing, can the iPod be configured to automatically set the EQ as rock?
Q: My iTunes software says that there is a new version of iTunes (4.7), but the iPod updater says that I'm up to date. If I download the new version of iTunes, will my iPod/iTunes not work?
Q: I have about 50 data CDs full of MP3s. I want to get an iPod to store all my music, but from what I gather, I can only do that if all of those MP3s are on my computer's hard drive. I have a laptop with a small hard drive and have no way of doing this. Can I bypass this and use my iPod as an external hard drive and play songs off of it through my computer?

Click on the link to see the answers.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

DSL prices as they should be
DSL in Germany gets cheap and dirty
The German T-Online have lowered their broadband prices to €3.99 per month allowing 2000 Mb download. Users that need more, can choose 8000 MB for €12.99 per month. If you exceed the limit you pay 1.39c per megabyte. The service has been stripped for extras such as email address or SMTP; user must either used web-based email or run their own mail server. This is the way to go!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Fictionwise

Year End Sale: Final Days!
Our annual Holiday Storewide sale is almost over! Through December 31st, get 20% off the purchase of any unencrypted MultiFormat title in our store, and get a 20% Micropay Rebate on any Secure title in our store. We rarely run a sale this big, so don't miss out!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

iPod hack
how-to record on your ipod (for free)

apple cripples recording on an ipod so belkin and griffin then have to sell us add-on devices for over $50 that can only record at 8khz, which is all pretty shitty. apparently (the rumor is) apple does this so people don’t use their ipods to record stuff they think we shouldn’t, like concerts, whatever.

but don’t worry, there’s a way around it and you can record at high quality, all for free.

[Via BoingBoing]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Final year podcast
Engadget Podcast.22

02:30- Orb Networks, I think it’s the best of 2004. Gartenberg scoop.
07:50- Media Center Extending, stream your stuff anywhere in the house.
11:10- Super green laser, holy sweet photons!
14:30- NASA Podcast, I’m SO going to win this bet.
16:00- Free old Sci-Fi radio shows, x minus one.
18:30- Real hackers, er RealNetwork’s crackers.
20:25- Apple taking enthusiast sites to court, bah!
22:25- Monster, monster jerks.
25:00- iPod hacks, non-iPod hardware, control from a phone.
26:10- Linux, text changes, free your music and more…
28:00- SuperNova.org, something coming soon!

Format: 30 minutes, 7 MB, MP3

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/29/2004

Simply a Great Book
Reagan: A Life in Letters
Ronald Reagan may have been the most prolific correspondent of any American president since Thomas Jefferson. The total number of letters written over his lifetime probably exceeds 10,000. Their breadth is equally astonishing--with friends and family, with politicians, children, and other private citizens, Reagan was as dazzling a communicator in letters as he was in person. Collectively, his letters reveal his character and thinking like no other source. He made candid, considerate, and tough statements that he rarely made in a public speech or open forum. He enjoyed responding to citizens, and comforting or giving advice or encouragement to friends.

posted by Jerry permanent link

New Site
Manybooks.net
This site contains more than 10,000 eBooks formatted for reading on your Palm, PocketPC, Zaurus, Rocketbook, or Symbian cellphone.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Digital music: flat fee futures
Professor William Fisher of Harvard's Berkman Center think tank published in the fall a book called Promises To Keep, which discusses several alternatives to music licensing in detail.

Fisher sketches three versions of the future. In one (Chapter Three), rights holders ally to technology companies to build rights management technology into as broad a range as products as they can. It's the vision shared by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
...
In another scenario, (Chapter Five) art is recognized as a public good too valuable to be left unsupervised in private hands, and like accommodation, which is subject to rent control and building codes, is therefore subject to public oversight.
...
His third scenario offers the most tantalizing future: one where music and movies can be freely exchanged in the knowledge that the rights holders get paid. Such scenarios are discussed under several names: "digital pool", "flat fee" or Fisher's blanket acronym, ACS (alternative compensation system).

After the article, you will find a link to a draft proposal here (click on Chapter 6)

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/27/2004

The future of blogging?
Semantic Blogging and Decentralized Knowledge Management
A blog like the one you are reading right now contain simple one-way information. We could, if we wanted to, expand it with a section for comments, making it (kind-of) two-way. We often add links to for example related items or references. However, we can improve further on this by adding semantic metadata, resulting in a blog with a semantic web structure. By adding semantics (i.e. meaning to the data), we can view, navigate and query the information in new ways.

HP is doing research on such semantic blogging: The following is the abstract of a paper by Steve Cayzer (only available to ACM members but this PDF file contain slides explaining the concept of semantic blogging):

Snippets are information nuggets that we would like to store, annotate and share. This is an example of what I call informal, decentralized knowledge management. Email is inadequate for this task; web logs (blogs) offer a decentralized though unstructured approach. I advocate the use of rich metadata to address this task; a technique I call Semantic Blogging. In this article I show how semantic blogging enables new behaviours such as: View (using semantic metadata to enhance the view of rich content); Navigation (using semantic metadata to more efficiently find blog items of interest); and Query (using semantic metadata to build rich queries over a community's knowledge).

This is more than just talk. Try a simple prototype here!
You can change the view at the top of the page to record card, table or normal. You can click on the category to view all items within that category. Or click on the header to see that item alone with data relevant to that view. Unfortunately the link to BrownSauce was not working when I tried; follow the link and see what it does instead.
See also about the related semantic web: Semantic Technologies at IBM

posted by Jorgen permanent link

...
Asia Quake and Tsunami
Pray for the victims
...

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/26/2004

fPod to come?
Will Apple flash iPod rock market?

... say they hope an Apple flash player will ignite sales for all concerned.
"When they've come in, they've always raised the water level," said Dan Torres, Rio's vice president of product marketing. "That's good for the industry."
Torres sees a flash iPod as a fait accompli, noting that suppliers in Asia have said Apple has been making purchases consistent with the development of a flash music player.

Apple says "no comment", but is widely expected to announce a flash iPod at the Macworld Expo in January.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/25/2004

Time Out! New Trend Indicator
2004 Year-End Google Zeitgeist
Search patterns, trends, and surprises
Based on billions of searches conducted by Google users around the world, the 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and trends. We hope you enjoy this aggregate look at what people wanted to know more about this year.

posted by Jerry permanent link

"It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive among us again," said Fudge.'
New CD copy-lock technology nears market
A new kind of copy-protected music CD will likely hit U.S. shelves early next year, as record label Sony BMG Music Entertainment experiments with a technology created by British developer First 4 Internet, according to sources familiar with the companies.
The releases for the retail market, expected early in 2005, will be the first time the Sony music label issues copy-protected CDs in the U.S. market, although the company's other divisions have done so in other regions. BMG, Sony's new corporate sibling, has been more aggressive, with a handful of protected CDs released last year.

posted by Jerry permanent link

PDA Experience
PDAs Come of Age
Lately, I've been doing something I never expected: I'm using a PDA. That probably doesn't sound worth mentioning, but I've never been a big fan of PDAs. I'd either manage to break them, or they'd run out of power just when I needed them. And they always fell a little short of the functionality I've needed to make them useful.
However, the recent availability of PDAs with 640x480 (VGA) screen resolution and the added functionality of Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition gave me the impetus to invest in a Dell Axim X50v. And after a few weeks of use, I'm glad I did.

posted by Jerry permanent link

In case you wondered
The headlines you WON'T see in 2005

Gates: Longhorn 'bug free and on time'
Markets go mad for tech IPOs
Spam drops back below 50 per cent mark
Indian firm opens Middlesbrough call centre
ID cards: Government offers to waive charges
...

[via SlashDot]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/24/2004

From the department of future
Year 2014: What happened to the news?
With a new year coming, now is a good time to contemplate the current status of the news and extrapolate into the future. And that is exactly what the above link does. Listen to this eight minutes report, which somehow has been timeshifted down from year 2014, telling why the news media ended up the way it did. This should make you worry!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Peace to the World
Merry Christmas to Christian readers

posted by Jerry permanent link

Dropproof players?
Apple aims to patent fall-detecting iPod

"The portable-computing device protects its disk drive by monitoring for such accelerations and operating to avoid usage of the disk drive during periods of acceleration," Apple said in the patent application, which was published Dec. 16. "Through such protection, the likelihood of damage to the disk drive or loss of data stored on the disk drive is able to be substantially reduced."
IBM began including a similar feature on its ThinkPad notebook line in October 2003. Apple's patent application was filed in June 2003, but it wasn't published until last week.
Others are trying different approaches. Hitachi is working to make the hard drive's read/write arm smaller and more nimble. That would make the drive less likely to be damaged in a fall.
Start-up drive maker Cornice has discussed plans for a 3GB, 1-inch drive whose read/write arm physically locks when the drive isn't in use. That won't necessarily protect a drive that is in the process of reading or writing when the device is dropped.
However, the approach taken by IBM and Apple has its limits. It takes time for a device to notice the acceleration. Thus, the product has to be dropped from a certain height for the feature to kick in.

So, the higher the better, but not too high?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/23/2004

No Doubt
The Year of the iPod
If anything characterized the world of digital music in 2004, it was Apple’s iPod. Although a slew of music players and online music marts were unveiled by entities other than Apple, no “iPod killer” or music service gained significant traction. By the end of the year, the word “iPod” had become nearly a generic term for a digital music player, much as Walkman described portable music players 20 years earlier. And as the iTunes Music Store extended its reach across the globe, similar services did their best to scratch out a living from Apple’s leavings.

posted by Jerry permanent link

New ebook store
www.diesel-ebooks.com
Diesel eBooks is a relatively new ebook store with a massive 35,000+ ebooks in up to three different formats (MS Reader, eReader and Acrobat); you will also find a large selection of free ebooks in MS Reader format ready to download, also for non-customers. The site has been enhanced for browsing through some 50 categories, each divided into subcategories - this makes browsing a far more enjoyable experience as you avoid wading through book titles you have no interest in.

You get discount points when you register and every time you buy books. They also have a frequent-buyer program under which you can earn extra points if you supply an approved ebook review and if you refer friends to Diesel.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Free ebooks
ManyBooks

This site contains more than 10,000 eBooks formatted for reading on your Palm, PocketPC, Zaurus, Rocketbook, eBookWise-1150, or Symbian cellphone.

There is a page with recommendations from users! Nice idea.
[via MobileRead]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

podBooks, anyone?
PodReader e-book converter for iPod

PodReader is an open-source OS X application that takes electronic texts and "intelligently" parses them into a series of text blocks that can be read on Apple's iPod.
Still in the early stages of development, it is planned to rapidly mature into an application tailored for PDA-type functionality to include reading of various types of electronic media. Ports to Linux and Win32 are planned.

Download from their site.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Ask aunt iPodLounge
Ask iPodlounge

Q: I have just bought an iPod. Is it legal to copy music from CDs to the iPod?
Q: What have the sales been for the U2 edition of the iPod?
Q: I'm thinking about getting an iPod but am concerned about the hard drive getting damaged if I fall while snowboarding.
Q: I am about to buy an iPod and was wondering which file format the iPod uses? Can it convert other file formats, such as Windows Media Player and Real One Player so that they will play on my iPod?
Q: I have just recently ordered a G4 PowerBook: how do I get my music from iTunes on my PC to my Mac quickly and painlessly?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/22/2004

Another Blunder from MS
DRM at its worst? Here's a prime example
DRM is actually a part of Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system and has been for a while, but it wasn’t until I picked up a DVD recently that I witnessed the ugly and very user unfriendly side of DRM in person. The DVD in question, T2: Extreme DVD, produced by Artisan Home Entertainment Inc., is a two-dvd disk set, which holds a digitally optimized version of the T2 movie on one disk, and a high definition version of the same movie on the second disk, encoded in WMV9 format... The DVD cover was clear about the minimum requirements in terms of computer hardware for playback of the WMV9 content and since it had no warnings of the content being protected or only playable in certain regions I saw no reason to not buy it.
Unfortunately, after trying to play the DVD back with Windows Media Player 9, I couldn’t get it to work...I was surprised to find that it failed to give me a license as it had determined that my physical location was not in the US or Canada. Apparently the content was only to be played back in either one of these countries and nowhere else. After routing my IP address through an anonymous proxy server in the US I however managed to unlock the content just as well and was presented with a license agreement I had to agree to prior to being able to play the content back.
That agreement, amongst other things, stated that I could only play back the content for a period of five days... (and still more problems, click here to see more scarry DRM experiences)
Source JWalk Blog

posted by Jerry permanent link

Big sale
Fictionwise: 20% off MultiFormat, 20% Rebate on Secure!

Our annual Holiday Storewide sale is on! Through January 1st, get 20% off the purchase of any unencrypted MultiFormat title in our store, and get a 20% Micropay Rebate on any Secure title in our store. We rarely run a sale this big, so don't miss out!

What more needs to be said?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Gutentag
DVD ebooks from Project Gutenberg
I just finished downloading the Best of Project Gutenberg DVD, a collection of 9,400 eBooks from Project Gutenberg's vast collection. Project Gutenberg, in case you are not aware of their work, has been around since 1971 and is commited to producing etexts of public domain works of literature, historical documents, and even sheet music. The DVD contains a wealth of resources for classroom teachers and students. If you want to learn more, the Top 100 eBooks listing is a great place to go to get an idea of the breadth of materials available.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/21/2004

MyFi vs. iPod
iPod beats satellite radio any day

Either the dodgy reception or broad programming would have been enough to make me prefer my MP3 player, but once you add the fact that XM's compression sounds worse than a 128kbps MP3, there's no way I'd switch to XM.
There is one place satellite radio makes sense to me: the car. Highways have an unobstructed line toward the sky, so the reception's perfect. Plus, I'm in more of a mood to troll around programmed channels on a long road trip than I am on a short commute.

An informal test, but a must-read if you are thinking about satellite radio.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/20/2004

The future of online shopping
Tesco In-store Personal Shoppers to Use Tablet PCs to Pick Online Orders
The largest UK food retailer, Tesco, has decided to use wireless smart tablets for order-picking and fulfilment in the online shopping arm of 300 of their largest stores.

Each transaction made on the Tesco.com Web site is logged on the company's central server farm, which then relays this information to the shop nearest to the postcode specified on the order's delivery address. Once an order has been downloaded to a shop's local server, it can then be split into logical picking groups.

These elements are then downloaded to the individual cart-mounted Atigo units for picking, according to the customer's requested delivery time. Intelligent enough to coordinate several customers' shopping lists at any one time, the system will allow a team of personal shoppers to fulfill multiple orders simultaneously.

Personal shoppers will be guided through the store, following on-screen prompts for items and their locations. An attached bar code reader will allow them to scan picked items into the system and progress to the next product on the list. Once this has been completed, the cart can be returned to the back of the store, ready for the order to be delivered.

As a Windows XP embedded system, the Atigo enables Tesco to use the Microsoft.net development environment. Furthermore, the system's combination of long battery life, high memory (Transmeta Crusoe TM5800 1GHz Processor, 256MB SDRAM, 256MB Flash Memory, 512MB Optional) and bar code reader make it easily able to withstand the demands of in-store life.

Good initiative!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Dejavu all over again
Will Apple flash iPod rock market?
When IBM entered the PC market in 1981, Apple Computer took out a full-page newspaper ad welcoming its rival.
Today, with Apple reportedly poised to debut its first flash-memory-based music player after rocking the market for hard-drive devices with the iPod, some competitors are taking a similar laissez-faire stance.
"Welcome to the party," said Thomson Vice President David Arland, whose RCA brand is among the top three in U.S. retail sales.

posted by Jerry permanent link

the Indigo Child phenomena
Indigo-E. T. cOnnectiOn: Everything Happens for a Reason
by Marshall Masters
Marshall Masters believes that Indigo Children have always been here and that they are now awakening to the gentle call of a living universe. "Many researchers are coming to the conclusion that we are not alone in the universe. Not all of these researchers share the same metaphysical commitments, and the trajectories of their works, although roughly parallel, are not exactly the same. But the general conclusion is that we terrestrial humans are part of a whole cosmic hierarchy of beings, with whom we are, have been, or will be in contact in one way or another. Among this group of researchers is Marshall Masters, whose latest book, the Indigo-E.T. Connection, gives his thought provoking ideas on how a small select group of terrestrial humans, with super high IQs and indigo colored auras, may be the best suited for contact with extraterrestrial beings.

posted by Jerry permanent link

The Greatest Boxer
Muhammad Ali: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey
eBook by Muhammad Ali & Hana Yasmeen Ali
In The Soul of a Butterfly the great champion takes readers on a spiritual journey through the seasons of life, from childhood to the present, and shares the beliefs that have served him well. After fighting some of the fiercest bouts in boxing history against Joe Frazier and George Foreman, today Muhammad Ali faces his most powerful foe--outside the boxing ring. Like many people, he battles an illness that limits his physical abilities, but as he says, "I have gained more than I have lost ... I have never had a more powerful voice than I have now." Ali reflects on his faith in God and the strength it gave him during his greatest challenge, when he lost the prime years of his boxing career because he would not compromise his beliefs. He describes how his study of true Islam has helped him accept the changes in his life and has brought him to a greater awareness of life's true purpose.
Written with the assistance of his daughter Hana, The Soul of a Butterfly is a compassionate and heartfelt book that will provide comfort for our troubled times.

posted by Jerry permanent link

PPC/Palm Free game
AvantGo
AvantGo is giving a PPC and/or Palm game Microsoft Office Concentration (there is a link to PPC 2002-users to download the .NET compact framework).

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/18/2004

Ask Auntie
Ask iPodlounge

Q: My computer is behind a NetGear WGR614 wireless router. I am running Windows XP (Service Pack 2) and have the latest versions of iTunes and the iPod software. I have looked online for instructions on how to let iTunes through the firewall of the router (and the Windows Firewall), but so far have been unsuccessful.

Q: I have a 40GB fourth generation iPod with approximately 4,000 songs, which are also stored on the hard drive of my computer. I have purchased an iPod mini for my wife and would like to know the best (and simplest) way to manage the songs on both. I would like to auto-sync all of the songs from the hard drive to the 40GB iPod and would like my wife to be able to pick and choose the songs she would like on her mini. Both iPods will be working from the same account in iTunes.

Q: Somehow my computer’s entire iTunes library got erased. Is there a way to transfer my files from the iPod back to the library?

Q: I purchased an album from the iTunes Music Store, created a playlist using iTunes and proceeded to burn an audio CD with the music that I purchased. I inserted the CD into another computer that had iTunes software installed and was able to play the CD, but to my surprise the song names, artist, and album name were not preserved. What is the reasoning for this? Can you provide any insight on how to ensure that the song names, artist, and album title are preserved when burning music to a CD that is purchased from the iTunes Music Store? Furthermore, should one expect any other program such as Windows Media Player to be able to extract the song names, artist, and album title from CD's created using iTunes purchased music?

Q: I have all my telephone numbers saved in my personal address book under Microsoft Outlook on my office machine running Windows XP. I recently bought a PowerBook. Would it be possible for me to transfer my existing address book from my Windows XP computer to my iPod photo using my PowerBook?

Note that they also have forums in which other problems and ideas are discussed.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Fatten up your AvantGo account
AvantGo Re-registration
If you have an AvantGo account and have had it from before 1/1 2004, update your data and you will qualify for a one Mb increase of your account. The Ghost of Christmas Past must have been visiting AgantGo!
While you are there, note that the reader software has been updated.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/17/2004

WiFi Swap
Computer Users Sued for Swapping Music
December 16, 2004
Recording companies filed copyright infringement lawsuits against 754 computer users Thursday, the latest round of legal action in the industry's effort to squelch unauthorized swapping of music online.
Among the named defendants were 20 computer users suspected of swapping songs over university networks, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group for the largest music companies.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Against ip Odds: Size Does Not Count
With Mini's Rivals, More Is Sometimes Less
This month you will be able to choose from four competitors to Apple's iPod Mini, courtesy of Dell, Rio Audio, Virgin Electronics and Creative. How do they compare?
Four great players, each with some superpower that the iPod Mini lacks. It's curtains for Apple, right?
Not so fast. On something that's as personal and frequently used as a music player, little things make a big difference, and it's in the Little Things department that the iPod Mini really shines.
For example, when your player contains a thousand songs, you need a way to scroll through them quickly. You can run your finger around the iPod's famous click wheel fast to jet down to the W's and then slowly to pinpoint "What a Wonderful World."
But the Rio's thumb wheel has no such variable speed; it's four songs per turn, period. Working through any list longer than about 12 songs is an excruciating exercise. The Dell's "rolling log" control does zip farther through a list the faster you spin it, but it's awfully hard to speed up or slow down when you're basically twirling a section of a drinking straw. The Virgin's up-down buttons scroll at two different speeds, but that's still more frustrating than the Mini's "any speed you like."
Each player comes with its own disappointments...
The backlighting of the Dell,...
The Virgin's buttons are recessed too far, its backlighting is even dimmer than the Dell's, ...
On the Creative Zen Micro, the iPod's wheel has been replaced by a touch-sensitive vertical strip. In theory it ought to offer variable speed scrolling, but in practice it's a sticky, balky nightmare...
The sculptured Rio Carbon looks cool on a tabletop, but it's all wrong for your palm...
...All right, so the iPod Mini's rivals aren't as elegant or as polished, they're not as thoughtfully conceived, and they may not fill you with as much pure, overwhelming technolust. Apple's message seems to be, "Perfection has a price."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Podcast 101
How I Make An Audio Magazine (Podcast)
"There are some very good hints in this ... especially in the audio-post-processing section. I basically give away one of my secrets for creating audio that has a lot of clear 'shine' to it. But I can't take you by the hand and teach you everything."
The most illustrated guides I've ever seen :), take a long time to download but it is fun.
Source: JWalk Blog

posted by Jerry permanent link

;)
Playboy's free come-on turns iPod into iBod
Playboy is offering its own special brand of holiday cheer to iPod Photo owners--free soft porn.
The free gallery consists of 25 PG-rated images sized for the iPod photo's display. Digital content with nude pictures is available on Playboy's subscription site Playboy Cyber Club.
A Playboy representative described the download as a soft launch for services that will target a variety of portable devices capable of displaying photos. A formal launch is planned for January, but the company figured many iPod photo devices would be given out for the holidays and made the feature available now.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hushed
Apple sues over online product leaks
In recent weeks, the Web sites have been buzzing with speculation that Apple will introduce a smaller, cheaper version of its market-leading iPod digital music player that uses flash memory, rather than the hard disk drives of the standard iPods...
Apple's complaint, filed with the Santa Clara County, Calif. Superior Court, comes only weeks ahead of the Macworld conference in San Francisco, the annual show where CEO Steve Jobs unveils the latest Apple products.
Apple is notoriously secretive about its product plans, while many fan sites routinely discuss what may be in store, including posting pictures of real products and hoaxes.
The complaint alleges that "an unidentified individual, acting alone or in concert with others, has recently misappropriated and disseminated through Web sites confidential information about an unreleased Apple product."

posted by Jerry permanent link

You Know...
Cell Phones That Do It
A few columns ago, I mentioned my longing for a Treo 650. It's a cell phone, yes, but it's also a camera, an MP3 player, a phone book, an organizer. You can browse the web, check your e-mail, chat over IM, create spreadsheets and edit Microsoft Word documents, all from a device that fits in a shirt pocket.
With all of the business functions covered, I suppose it's no surprise that the next big thing in cell phones is to turn them into sex toys. In fact, one of the Wired News editors says it was a natural progression, considering everything else you can do with the dang things. (When I put him on the spot with "Would you buy one?" he responded, suavely, "I prefer specialized devices. I'm not an all-in-one kind of guy.")

posted by Jerry permanent link

Great Gadget
Pocket PC Catalog
"The Socket OrganizeIT™ Suite is an industry first – offering a complete solution to manage a library of music and video using the Socket SDIO In-Hand Scan Card (ISC) with your favorite mobile device."
At $299 USD, this isn't for the mere hobbyist, but if you're serious about cataloguing your CDs and DVDs, this is a killer solution. The kit includes an SD-based bar code scanner, and the client software that will take those bar codes and look them up online to build your catalogue.

posted by Jerry permanent link

eLibrary Watch
Libraries in a ’Net future
The news that Google will digitize more than 15 million books and make them available online didn’t dominate headlines all week, but it would have if editors had a longer view for historical impact.
Google’s agreement with five outstanding libraries to digitize many of their books is likely to be one of the most important milestones in the development of the Web. As the pace of moving these books online accelerates, your home computer might become the gateway to more books than almost any library in the world holds. College professors might design more extensively linked reading collections online for classes. A new cottage industry of entrepreneurs custom-printing copies of books online might arise. And the kind of real-world libraries Allen County property owners are paying to expand will still pay vital roles in our lives.

posted by Jerry permanent link

eYellow Pad For Dummies
How To Publish An EBook Without Writing A Word.....
There are many, many advantages to selling eBooks online, not least the fact that once the eBook is written, the sales and delivery process can be automated so that as the seller, there is literally nothing for you to do when you make a sale. To illustrate this point, I have sold over 15,000 copies of my most popular eBooks since I first wrote them but other than carrying out an update every few months, these products now don't involve me in any work whatsoever.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iPod Forecasting
iPod Wants Your Money:
1. 5GB iPod Mini
2. iPod Flash 3GB
3. iPod Photo 80GB
Thanks for Herman Tjahja for the links

posted by Jerry permanent link

Motorolipod
Jobs at Motorola Webcast
Following the "out and about" theme, Ed introduced the first product - the Motorola 398. Its main feature is MP3 playback; though it currently has 128MB of memory (which is removable, thanks to SD cards), it is scheduled to have a 512MB capacity by this time next year.
This was an excellent opportunity for Ed to bring a special guest. Steve Jobs, come on down! Looking for "a way to bring iTunes capability to these exciting new devices," Steve announced the webcast's breaking news: a partnership between Motorola and Apple to bring iTunes capabilities to Motorola phones by the first half of next year. Although I at first expected this to mean something like a cable between a phone and an iPod to transfer a couple songs over, I was somewhat disappointed to know that it instead meant you still need a PC (or Mac) to transfer songs. Thankfully, Steve Jobs clarified that transfers can be done by both USB and Bluetooth (which, by the way, all the phones announced tonight have), so at least we don't need to *completely* connect.

posted by Jerry permanent link

testing, I am posting this via my nokia.
FYI, it is extremely slow in typing to the blog box.
All blogging features are "missing" from the box bar.

posted by Jerry permanent link

What is the most important event for eBook industry in 2004? email me

posted by Jerry permanent link

More broadcasts
Engadget Podcast.21 12.15.2004

02:45- Hacking the Sidekick II, more apps!
06:20- Creative Zen support, or lack of, DVD ripper, class action…?
13:00- Time-Warner to erase your recordings.
17:00- Google Suggest, how to… version.
19:20- Where Google suggest came from, a suggestion.
21:40- 100 oldest domains, 03-15-85.
23:40- History of the net, a network called “Internet” 1993.
31:40- History of the castin’ October 2003.
35:35- How-To get content on the ScoblePhone.
38:00- Wal-Mart, getting sued over CDs.
41:30- Email, biggest photo, from the biggest kite.

Format: 45 minutes, 10MB, MP3.

And if you want it on your Smartphone: HOW-TO: Get podcasts and videos on Windows Mobile Smartphones.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Tons of music
iTunes Music Store breaks 200 million downloads

it took them just under 15 months to sell the first hundred million and all of five months to sell the second hundred million. (The first hundred million is always the hardest, isn’t it?)

And that is before Christmas. I wonder how many iTunes songs will go into the virtual stockings within the next week.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

They are going domain crazy
New .mobi domain wins ICANN approval

The ”.mobi” domain, according to a consortium headed by Nokia, Vodafone and Microsoft, will create “the opportunity to streamline the deployment of new Internet sites optimized for mobile usage.” However, it’s hard to see how a new domain will do anything other than add to the confusion created by the proliferation of other “specialized” (read: useless) domains such as .info, .name and .biz.

Amen to that! The sites should work on platform transparency so the site senses which equipment you use. Many already do, for example www.pocketpcthoughts.com will sense if you access the site with a Pocket-PC and in this case present a modified set of pages optimised for that platform.

Talking about the devil: PocketPCThoughts agrees

Do you feel liberated, feel that before you were constrained but now you have the "opportunity to streamline the deployment of new Internet sites" for your visitors on mobile devices? Of course there won't be any enforcement of what is put on that domain, so there will be a whole new crop of name squatting Google ad-sensing start-page setting faux search domains. Good thing too because .info and .biz are getting crowded.

And Jason suggests a number of other "useful" domains: .popup, .colorblind ... :) Check it out at the link.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/16/2004

200,000,000
iTunes Music Store Downloads Top 200 Million Songs
“iTunes has now sold over 200 million songs, making it the world’s number one online music store by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to be making music an even more popular gift this holiday season with iTunes and iPod.”

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free Sherlock Holmes MP3s
The Sherlock Holmes Society
The Sherlock Holmes Society has an amazing collection of radio plays in MP3 format, including the legendary performers: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. All plays can be downloaded for free.
[via BoingBoing]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/15/2004

Time Out!
Crack Store Pricing Codes
This is FUN:
There are a lot of codes and numbers on the shelf price tags in drug stores. Recently, Stacy pointed out a neat code on the shelf tags in Longs Drug Stores: A code that shows the store cost.
This code substitutes letters for numbers in the price. For example, H stands for 2 and L stands for 5.
So, for example, if a candy bar has a retail price of 44?, it might have a cost code of HL, indicating that Longs Drugs pays 25? for it.
Source J-Walk Blog

posted by Jerry permanent link

Ready for Rumble
RealNetworks promises iPod lockout fix
Apple Computer Inc. has updated the software for some of its iPod music players so that songs bought from RealNetworks Inc. won't play. RealNetworks says they're not sure why it's happened, but they're working on a fix. Apple suggests that it's what to expect if you use music that isn't officially supported on the iPod.
The RealNetworks Music Store competes directly with Apple's iTunes Music Store, but RealNetworks suffers a disadvantage: RealNetworks doesn't have its own music player, as Apple does with its market-dominating iPod. Although the iPod supports different music formats, the only protected format it works with is the music sold through the iTunes Music Store.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iReader
Build an eDoc Reader for your iPod
This article is the first in a series that walks you through the process of developing a Cocoa application that allows you to read large text documents, PDF files, and other electronic books on your 3G iPod or newer. Following along with this series highlights a number of valuable concepts such as text wrangling, interfacing to the user defaults system, incorporating existing open source software as a part of your own project, and tackling the Cocoa-Java bridge.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Bugs Acrobats
Bugs Bring New Dangers to Acrobat Users
Reader incorrectly parses the .etd files used in eBook transactions so that an .etd file containing special code in the "title" or "baseurl" fields can cause an invalid memory access.
This could allow the execution of malicious code with the privileges of the user, iDefense said. An attacker could exploit this bug by sending an e-mail message including either an attached PDF file or a link to the file.

posted by Jerry permanent link

You still want an iPod?
New iPod Firmware Locks Out RealNetworks Music

"Apple Computer has quietly updated its iPod software so that songs purchased from RealNetworks' online music store will no longer play on some of the Mac maker's popular MP3 players." You may remember the backstory: Real found a way to allow their DRM-restricted music to play on iPods, Apple protested, and there was a little back-and-forth. You asked Rob Glaser about the situation, and he said Real had a "comprehensive plan", whatever that means.

[SlashDot]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

OverDrive expands
Top Publishers Sign With OverDrive to Distribute Download Audio Books

OverDrive, Inc., a leading digital media company, announced today that it has signed agreements with Blackstone Audiobooks and 20 other publishers to distribute download audio titles to its growing network of public libraries. Over 10,000 popular audio books, including fiction, business, educational, and children's audio and music titles will be available to library patrons through its Digital Library Reserve service.

In addition to best-selling authors published by Brilliance Audio, OverDrive is now offering spoken word titles in dozens of genres from the vast catalog of Blackstone Audiobooks. Other suppliers and categories include J.A. Jance mysteries, David Eddings Sci-fi, and the Left Behind series of titles from Books In Motion plus:

* Penton Overseas - business, foreign language learning, and educational titles
* Listen & Live - fiction, business, self-help, and adventure audio
* Twin Sisters Productions - award-winning children's educational audio and songs
* Audio Bookshelf - award-winning history and poetry titles
* Hay House -inspirational and transformational audio titles
* Pocket University - education titles in a broad range of interests
* Colonial Radio Theatre - full-cast dramatizations of great events
* Prometheus Radio Theatre -science fiction dramatizations
* Eagle House Publishing - personal effectiveness and motivational titles
* CarTours - self-guided interpretive driving tour audio
* One Voice Recording - a preeminent library of Sherlock Holmes classics

You can download a free player, an introduction (WMA format) and some free sample excerps here.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

More DRM Woes
DRM at its worst? Here's a prime example
The author bought a DVD with a digitally optimized version and a high definition version of a movie

I was looking forward to playing back the hd version, which promises the very best image quality and a great way for me to enjoy the full potential of my, hd capable, home theater installation. To make sure I could make full use of the dvd I double-checked the cover for any requirements on the computer hardware, or any region specific coding. The dvd cover was clear about the minimum requirements in terms of computer hardware for playback of the WMV9 content and since it had no warnings of the content being protected or only playable in certain regions I saw no reason to not buy it.

You will already have guessed that he was dead wrong, so read on at the link.
[via DigitalMediaThoughts]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/14/2004

The medium is the message
Podfolio
If you are at work, note that the link plays music!

We’re impressed with their Flash skillz, but this is probably the most annoying way we’ve ever been forced to navigate through somebody’s online portfolio.

Amen to that, but it was fun! And the music is good.
[via Engadget]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Fictionwise free classics
Fictionwise
The spirit of Christmas has hit the hearts at Fictionwise - three classics free through Sunday, December 19th! And best of all: they are in multiformat; no DRM - you will not lose these due to change of platform, hard resets and what-not.

The People of the Abyss by Jack London
The Card, A Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett

If you have not visited Fictionwise before, note that there is a Free eBooks link with their "permanently" free ebooks, most of which are copyrighted works. And if you are looking for Christmas presents that don't need to be wrapped, note that the new ebooks are discounted.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

2014
Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database
It may be only a step on a long road toward the long-predicted global virtual library. But the collaboration of Google and research institutions that also include Harvard, the University of Michigan, Stanford and the New York Public Library is a major stride in an ambitious Internet effort by various parties. The goal is to expand the Web beyond its current valuable, if eclectic, body of material and create a digital card catalog and searchable library for the world's books, scholarly papers and special collections.
Although Google executives declined to comment on its technology or the cost of the undertaking, others involved estimate the figure at $10 for each of the more than 15 million books and other documents covered in the agreements. Librarians involved predict the project could take at least a decade.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/13/2004

eLibrary
Libraries check out e-books

They are electronic books--3,000 titles' worth--and the library's 1.8 million cardholders can point and click through the collection at www.nypl.org, choosing from among best-sellers, nonfiction, romance novels and self-help guides. Patrons borrow them for set periods, downloading them for reading on a computer, a hand-held organizer or other device using free reader software. When they are due, the files are automatically locked out--no matter what hardware they are on--and returned to circulation, eliminating late fees.

In the first eight days of operation in early November, and with little fanfare, the library's cardholders--from New York City and New York state and, increasingly, from elsewhere--checked out more than 1,000 digital books and put another 400 on waiting lists (the library has a limited number of licenses for each book).

Best of all: lending is 24/7!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Fill it up!
Free Music for Your iPod
The article gives a good overview of both legal and illegal ways of getting music via the Internet. Best of all, there is a link to iPodLounge's new free music section!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

"Digital Jaunt" DOES Illustrate Microsoft's DRM problems
Uh-oh! Microsoft Techies among Victims of Draconian E-Book DRM

Hey, different perspectives make for a good group blog, no? A few points in reply in an earlier post on my TeleRead item:

(1) Whether or not outsourcing happened, this still would seem to be a very bad reflection on the usability of Microsoft e-book technology. And why was the outsourcing needed in the first place? The Microsoft employee himself mentioned the headaches of DRM as a possiblity. Microsoft's DRM is among the worst, especially from a library perspective. It's no small coincidence why OverDrive, despite its relationship with Microsoft, prefers Mobipocket and even Adobe in its library program. The fact that Microsoft library users must cope with different readers, of course, aggravates the problem. See Point #3's reference to the need for a standard e-book format for consumers--something about which Microsoft itself was once quite clueful.

(2) Granted, employees don't always enjoy the best service, but even allowing for that, the usability level of the library seems an utter disgrace. The hassles of Microsoft technology must have just worsened the mess.

(3) The statement about Fictionwise ("has shown that it takes the same time to buy a book whether it is protected by DRM or not") is a bit of a generalization. Fictionwise carries many formats beyond Microsoft. If experiences at other stores are characteristic, Microsoft's DRM is far more of a bother for consumers and support staff than, say, Mobipocket. The real solution, of course, remains a user-friendly universal format to reduce consumers' confusion, whether in a DRM context or others. Although I'm not the biggest fan of DRM, I can see the possibility of having it done in a machine-linked manner, just so there's more flexibility than Microsoft offers. No "X number of activations and that's it, buddy!"

(4) Microsoft's products are hardly "first class" all the time--unless the most operative words are "in one way or another." Check out Bloody Sunday at the Washington Post for Internet Explorer and the so-called Google killer. Often people go with Microsoft because of OS-encouraged dependencies, not quality.

posted by David Rothman permanent link

P2P Watch
BitTorrent stirs up storm
As its name suggests, the software lets computer users share large chunks of data. But unlike other popular file-sharing programs, the more people swap data on BitTorrent, the quicker it flows — and that includes such large files as feature films and computer games.
Because of its speed and effectiveness, BitTorrent steadily gained in popularity after the recording industry began cracking down last year on users of Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster and other established file-sharing software.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Selfcriticism needed
A Digital Jaunt to the Library
TeleRead has an email from a Microsoft employee describing the trials and tribulations of get an ebook out of their library. Why? "The site was not geared toward the task at hand. There was not a logical progression from locating a title to getting the title up in whatever reader was necessary." Interesting!

I don't agree with TeleRead's findings or conclusions: 1) this part of the library was outsourced, 2) employees don't always (ever?) get the same service as customers and 3) Fictionwise has shown that it takes the same time to buy a book whether it is protected by DRM or not. Whatever opinion you have on Microsoft, you have to admit that their products are always first class in one way or another - that is why they are B-I-G. The reason one should avoid MS's DRM wherever possible, is because you can easily lose all your ebooks: once you run out of activations, that's it. Users often changing Pocket-PCs run into such problems.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/12/2004

Audio
Flash memory coaxes audiobooks out of the '70s
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped services some 600,000 users with audio books. These are currently stored on bulky four-track cassette tape - advanced when it was designed back in the 70ies, as it was made to survive repeated trips through the mail, but showing problems in terms of bulkiness, sound quality and battery life. The library has decided to change to USB flash memory, as the latest prices make these devices viable.

The next steps in converting to flash memory will be designing a player and setting technical standards. Unlike most digital audio players, the library's device must have controls that can be easily manipulated by users with arthritis. Because data representing voice recordings can be compressed more than music, Moodie said the new flash memory cards--which will use a standard USB connection--will easily hold a single book regardless of length.

The article also tells about a user playing downloaded texts via a speech synthesis program.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/11/2004

Barnes and Noble read this (on ebook sales)
Physics Model Predicts Book Sales
The model predicts how sales will decline after they peak according to how the peak occurred. The decline after an exogenous shock is fairly steep, while the decay after an endogenous shock is more gradual. The model was 84 percent correct in the researchers tests.
Book publishing houses and marketing firms could use the method to quantify how books will sell post-peak, and to time the market, according to the researchers.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iTunesPal
Apple's iTunes now accepting PayPal
Customers who buy songs, albums and gift certificates at the music store can use eBay's wallet technology to pay.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Freeware
WordNetCE for Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) 2002/2003
You may want to consider this dictionary/thesaurus something that is going to be extremely helpful in finding meanings to difficult words, or a better substitute word for that literary masterpiece. However, you may also want to consider that WordNet from Princeton is NOT a concise dictionary, it is a huge manual effort of giving meanings to words and tying those meanings together so that it can be useful for automated applications (such as AI). Each iteration of WordNet's release brings forth fixes and additions so it still remains a worthy database to pursue.
(source: PocketPCThoughts)

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/10/2004

Ask Aunt iPodLounge
Spouse says "No iPod," Getting rid of CDs, and Resurrecting a dead iPod

Q: My wife won't let me buy an iPod. I beg, I plead, and state my case, but nada. She says I should be happy to buy a cheaper mp3 player and that buying an iPod is frivolous. What should I do?

Q: I have finally gone all-digital. I've ripped all my CDs to AAC files (I even bought an external 200 gigger to hold everything) and used an old machine to create a home digital server/stereo. So I figure now is the time to get rid of my 400 CDs, but a part of me can't part with them. What should I do?

Q: I just paused my music and when I returned to it, I could not turn on my iPod mini.

What would you answer?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Free ebooks revisited
eReader.com complete december promo list
MobileRead has published a detailed list of which ebooks eReader is giving away throughout this month. As you can see, most of the books are in the public domain and can be fetched from places such as Project Gutenberg (text/html) and Blackmask (ebook-formats) as we wrote here, but three of them are contemporary ebooks you would have to pay good money for. The first came on the 7th (I missed that one) and the remaining two on December 21st and 30th, respectively.
The books are reviewed on Amazon here:
21 Dec Body of Evidence CSI: Crime Scene Investigation #4
30 Dec Ruditis Star Trek: Enterprise: Shockwave.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

iPod Photo
The Complete Guide to iPod photo Pictures
If you have or are thinking about buying an iPod Photo, this article should be of interest. The system is not perfect as you may guess from the conclusion:

The whole concept of portable photo storage is a new one to Apple and the iPod, and there are naturally a few things left to be worked out. Hopefully future versions of iTunes will provide more complete photo management, and some of Apple's third-party developers will jump on the bandwagon and start adding photo capabilities to some of the other great iPod management software that is already out there.
Despite these few limitations, however, the new iPod photo is a great evolution of the iPod concept. While power users may be disappointed by its rather basic features, it fits the iPod's model very well - that of allowing you to carry your digital life around in your pocket.

In other words, it works fine.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/09/2004

Hands-on googling
Smart googling
This webpage created by Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil will teach you a number of useful Google search strings (including the one Jerry listed yesterday: see point 17).

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Nice Blog
Cult of Mac
For Die Hard Mac Fans

posted by Jerry permanent link

Googlebooks
How to find eBooks with Google
As you know Google.com is the most popular search engine in the world.
Here are some tips to helps you find eBooks with Google:
Find Apache's (default) Index page
Try this query:
Code:
+("index of") +("/ebooks"|"/book") +(chm|pdf|lit|zip|rar) +apache
Find a particular eBook file
Try this query:
Code:
allinurl: +(rar|chm|zip|pdf|lit|tgz) TheTitle

For more using Google Advance Operator click here
Thanks to Force@c*.net.id

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/08/2004

New Michael Crichton: 100% Micropay Rebate!
(with your credit card)

State of Fear
by Michael Crichton
State of Fear is a superb blend of edge-of-your-seat suspense and thought-provoking commentary on how information is manipulated in the modern world. From the streets of Paris, to the glaciers of Antarctica to the exotic and dangerous Solomon Islands, State of Fear takes the reader on a rollercoaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Dead tree books
Three Books On The iPod

With Apple's iPods sitting under many Christmas trees come the morning of December 25th, the question arises as to what might sit well next to it. I'm suggesting one of these three books might be just the ticket.

1. The iPod Fan Book
2. Hacking iPod + iTunes
3. iPod & iTunes Hacks

Wot? No "iPod for Dummies" yet?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Now, listen!
Last 100 podcasts
Loads and loads of PodCasts - well, 100 of them - to download for your MP3 machine. (No, Engadget is not to be found among them).

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Sony Librie
Wiki Librie
If you own a Sony Librie, the above link is the place to go for more information about the Reader and various addon software such as:

1. Newspaper for LIBRIe converts Internet articles and news to a format readable by the Librie. In addition, since it is RSS compliant, one can select the most recent news from various web sites and create an original information magazine.
2. Toolbar for LIBRIe converts in one click a web page from Internet explorer into a format readable by the Librie.
3. Myclip for LIBRIe allows the user to drag and drop into a single ebook readable on the Librie text portions of websites which the users whishes to keep for further reference.
4. Printer for LIBRIe allows the user to print data stored on a pc in word, excel or pdf format into a file readable by the Librie. Possible usages include proof reading, text checking, or paperless document carrying.

[Via MobileRead].

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/07/2004

...But Odorless
Wow, just like the real thing
While you can jump quickly from one chapter to another and search for text in an electronic document, it can be a pain to browse through the entire contents of a 2,000 page document on a computer.
This is what a Singapore firm called E-Book Systems (EBS) has been working quietly to fix for the past six years.
Said EBS president and co-founder Dr Ho Seng Beng: 'By its nature, a paper book is counter-intuitive compared to an ancient scroll of text.
'With scrolls, you read on one long continuous parchment but, in books, the text is chopped up into different pages.
'Yet, even if you flip the pages back and forth in a random manner, you can still gain a good overview of the contents.'

posted by Jerry permanent link

eFlicks is the Future for Mobilephones
A Library and Cinema in Your Pocket
One day before too long, when your mobile telephone sounds, it could be a novel calling to recount how the headstrong heroine dumped the handsome heartbreaker. Or it might be a guidebook surfacing at a critical moment in a crowded bar to provide you with pickup lines in Spanish, French or German.
The increasing power of cellphones is fast shaping innovative forms of compact culture: micro-lit, phone soap operas and made-for-mobile dramas that can be absorbed in less time than it takes to flick through a book introduction.
"Are people going to read 'War and Peace' on their telephones?" asked David Harper, whose company, Wireless Ink, in Cold Spring, N.Y., offers Web users cellphone-size literature on such weighty themes as the zombie apocalypse. "The answer is probably no. Right now the content on mobile devices is almost like early television. What they did then was to sit down and do a radio broadcast for the television screen. But there was a picture. Our mission now is to get feedback."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Pervasive Computing
When technology gets personal

In 2020, whipping out your mobile phone to make a call will be quaintly passé. By then phones will be printed directly on to wrists, or other parts of the body, says Ian Pearson, BT's resident futurologist.
It's all part of what's known as a "pervasive ambient world", where "chips are everywhere".
Mr Pearson does not have a crystal ball. His job is to formulate ideas based on what science and technology are doing now, to guide industries into the future.
...
Wearable technology could exploit body heat to charge it up, while "video tattoos", or intelligent electronic contact lenses, might function as TV screens for those on the move.

And we will read books on that screen too. Look, mom, no hands!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

p or e-News - that is the question
Whither Newspapers?

I've seen a lot of articles recently about how newspapers are dying in the
age of online media. Few people actually read "the paper" anymore, the
story goes. Many under 35 don't even want a free subscription to their
local paper because they don't want to be bothered with disposal of all
that paper.
I can understand this. I've actually made such decisions myself. But I've
also noticed something else. Many, if not most, of the articles I read for
news come, ultimately, from newspapers.

Yes, he is not alone!

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/06/2004

As Time Goes By
The iPod Year in Review 2004
iPodLounge brings an article about what went right and wrong for Apple this year and a few predictions for 2005.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Broadcast 19
Engadget Podcast.19 12.06.2004

02:00- Microsoft’s Mobius 2004 conference in Seattle, lots of mobile peeps.
29:20- More Apple Phone rumors.
30:40- iPod hack tip from Hadley Stern, album artwork.
32:40- Blog shills, Word of mouth shills? Is this the future?
42:55- Google CFO, clickfraud.
46:10- Brian Greene’s Elegant Universe online.
53:30- Add Santa to AIM, Santa has a TOS.
56:00- Vote for us for best Tech blog here and best podcast here.
56:00- This puppy likes Dawn and Drew.
57:45- Call and leave us a message! 206-339-6257

Format: 60 minutes, 14MB, MP3.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Tech Watch
Search Engines for Handwritten Documents
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have created a tool for automatically searching handwritten historical documents, such as the 140,000 pages that make up George Washington's personal papers in the Library of Congress. The most interesting part is that the papers are scanned versions of the originals and the search tool actually recognizes the handwritten text from these images."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free PDF
Japan's Rise Again (Tech Perspective)
The Japanese economy is undergoing historic changes to realize a long-awaited recovery, led by technology and other industries. As a result, stakes are particularly high this holiday shopping season as consumer electronics plays an important role in the turnaround effort.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Quick How-To
Bigger Text for the eBookwise-1150
At $100, the eBookwise-1150 is a bargain--and it's a still better one now that people are figuring out ways to make books more viewable on the LCD screen. The display is usable for most e-book readers. But it could be better for some aging eyes if the words on the screen were bigger or in boldface. The answer, at least for public domain texts and changeable commercial books, is as easy as the editor you use for Web pages. More at TeleRead.

posted by David Rothman permanent link

Is Page Flip a Flop?
Wow, just like the real thing
A Singapore firm called E-Book Systems has invented an ebook reader where the reader has to flip pages.

Currently, Digital Flip is probably the only software that is able to simulate a real book closely.
With it, you can quickly flip through dozens of digital pages and be able to catch a glimpse of what is on each page - much like browsing through a magazine.
A page can also be turned back and forth slowly if you want to compare the content on either side.
And the best thing is that while the pages can project high quality images (like cosmetic advertisements), content creators can add music, animation and even mini-games to a page.

Nice gimmick, but when one thinks about it: we are used to flip pages, but we actually only do it because we are forced to due to a limitation in paper books. We don't flip pages because it is nice to do so. Add to this that the current generation is undoubtedly used to ebooks and will not miss the flipping of pages. But then again, if such a gimmick can bring new customers to ebooks, then it is great.
[via Mobileread]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/04/2004

"An Idea Whose Time Has Come Back"
New York Times Article Upbeat on E-Books
Sunday's NYT Book Review will carry an upbeat article on e-books, complete with mention of the New York Public Library's impressive 3,000-title efforts. The writer misses many of the recent developments of e-bookdom such as the debut of the $100 eBookwise-1150, a reborn Gemstar machine. And the DRM mess and the Tower of eBabel--the horrors that consumers, publishers and libraries face with conflicting proprietary formats of problematic durability and accessibility over the long term--don't get the space they deserve. Still, it's great to see writer Sarah Glazer showing far more of an open mind than many in the press. More at TeleRead.

posted by David Rothman permanent link

Yaddaing
How Communicative Are You?
Apropos the survey in South Korea on which communications media is preferred: PocketPCthoughts are right now running their own survey. So far, email is winning with Instant Messaging as number two.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/03/2004

The Day PC without IBM PC
IBM puts its PC business up for sale
International Business Machines Corp.'s possible exit from the personal computer business would be the latest move in what amounts to a long goodbye from a field it pioneered and revolutionized.
The New York Times reported Friday that IBM is in serious discussions with the Lenovo Group, China's biggest maker of personal computers, and at least one other unidentified prospective buyer for a sale that could bring between $1 billion and $2 billion. Other possible buyers could include Japan's Toshiba Corp., analysts said.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Simpl A1 headphone amplifier for iPod introduced
I use Bose Quitecomfort II, and I believe this product can add power to listen.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Buy or Wait
iPod Photo Power User Review
The Good: Apple's best iPod yet, featuring a new color screen and user interface, photo display through itself and TV sets, and 17-hour battery life. Sixty-Gigabyte version sets new iPod capacity mark.
The Bad: New features aren't as fully realized or evolved as Power Users might expect; photo display functionality requires extended sync process, no instantaneous display of photos downloaded with peripheral accessories, expensive by comparison with other iPods that feature identical music playback capability.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Free eBooks:
Little Lady of the Big House by Jack London
Helen with the High Hand by Arnold Bennett

posted by Jerry permanent link

  12/02/2004

Ebooks on the net
I stumbled over http://www.ebooksonthe.net the other day. They sell ebooks in a variety of formats, some even in HTML. As far as I can see, none of the books are protected by DRM, but check before you buy to make sure.

A(nother) good reason for visiting their site is that they have some free ebooks, I have not seen anywhere else. I can especially recommend the free What's Cooking? Favorite Recipes of Authors at ebooksonthe.net (the blurb claims that it is in HTML format but it is actually a PDF file).

They also sell dedicated hardware readers like Ebookman, Rocket and Softbook - looking at the prices for these and the age of the PDA's offered (Visor, Palm V, 8Mb Casio, 16Mb Jornada, ...???), I assume that these are leftovers from earlier days when we all were younger. However, if you are interested in such hardware (their screens are after all larger than PDAs), note that Ebookwise sells some upgraded (re-branded) REB's at $99.95 capable of downloading books from Fictionwise.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Streaming radio
Radio Show Links
If you have a connection to the Internet from your Pocket-PC, you can listen to streaming radio shows via www.radioshowlinks.com. I tried it on my hp-568 using Windows Media Player 8 over my Wi-Fi broadband connection - worked fine. Sadly, I had no luck with my hp-548 with Media Player 4.1. :(
[via PocketPCMagazine]

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Free books
Deck your Device with FREE Daily Downloads
eReader.com will be giving away a free ebook every day. You have to register if you are not already a customer and, yes, they will want your creditcard number as the book has to be encrypted.
I don't particularly want to interfere with eReader's business (they sell good products protected with the most reasonable DRM around), but giving away books that you can get for free elsewhere in a number of unprotected formats is not what I call gifts. So far they have given away classic books ("Around the world in 80 days" and today the children book "A little princess"). You may therefore want to get the books without DRM and in many different formats (MS Reader, PDF, Rocket, HTML, iSilo, MobiPocket) from for example www.blackmask.com.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Fancy becoming a Pod-filler?
Using iPod savvy to mine a niche

For those who lack the time or the know-how to transfer their record collections to their iPods, an entrepreneur has created a service that will do the trick. The service, HungryPod, converts CDs to MP3 format and loads them into an iPod or any other digital music player.
Catherine Keane, 23, is the founder and sole employee of HungryPod, a company she started at the end of September. For prices starting at $1.50 per CD (and a $15 delivery fee, which is waived for more than 100 CDs), Keane will go to a customer's home or office, pick up CDs and take them back to her office on Seventh Avenue near Penn Station in New York.
...
In addition, Keane is a music consultant. For a $50 fee, she will recommend similar artists based on a customer's current tastes. After that, customers can pay Keane to purchase CDs from an online music service, like Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store. (For that service she charges $25 an hour, plus the cost of the songs, at 99 cents each.)

Hmmm, thinking about stapling your boss's tongue to his desk and making your own business?

posted by Jorgen permanent link

  12/01/2004

e(ar)Books
FictionWise Audiobooks

Fictionwise now has fifty great AudioBooks available in unencrypted MP3 format, including titles based on works by Heinlein, Asimov, de Lint, Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Is audiobooks for you? You can download book one of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein free of charge.

posted by Jorgen permanent link

Fair use
Battling the Copyright Big Boys

"Copyright is supposed to be a balance in the Constitution," said David Alpert, president of IPac, which launched about a month before the 2004 election. "The government should not be in the business of preventing technology changes just because some companies are afraid it might hurt their existing business models."
IPac pledges to support candidates and elected officials who fight for a balance in copyright law: The group will support those who advocate for laws that will pay creators without limiting political expression, innovation or research and education, and back laws that foster new creativity. The group says it believes that intellectual property laws should be clear so technologists can innovate without being sued.

A cleanup in the copyright law is sorely needed!

posted by Jorgen permanent link